14 Happiness

Maryam watched the man with the bracelet go about his work of dividing the corpse of the slain beast.

He was fast and efficient, not seeming to care how badly he mutilated the corpse. In a matter of minutes, it had been expertly chopped into pieces small enough for a person to lift and move.

Then, he pulled a space-compression bag out of one of his pockets and began to put the pieces into it.

It was theoretically possible to create a space-compression bag that mortals could use, but if any existed, they were quite rare. Perhaps one might be commissioned specially as a status symbol for a noble, but the price the artificer would charge would be far more than it was worth as a tool.

Certainly, they would be both very expensive and very traceable.

And yet, in the middle of the woods, there stood a man with such an item, wearing nothing but commoner's clothes.

When the entirety of the corpse had been moved into the bag, he left the clearing and headed deeper into the forest.

Intrigued, Maryam followed him.

He made his way through the trees, moving with deliberation. He knew well where he was going.

Occasionally, he would pull a small, round device out of his pocket and glance at it, as if to confirm something. Apparently seeing what he was looking for, he would then continue forward.

Maryam followed silently, the waves of her energy hidden within her.

At one point, the man did something to the device, and it emitted a pulse of energy. Maryam manipulated her own energy carefully, letting the pulse pass through her, reflect off the trees behind her, and pass through her again.

The man looked carefully at the device and continued on.

Eventually, the forest opened again, and the man reached a camp of sorts. Really, it was closer to a tiny, makeshift hamlet.

As he approached, a blonde woman came up to greet him. She, too, wore that same metal bracelet.

"Oh good, you're back," she said, "Were you successful?"

The man nodded and handed her the space-compression bag.

"It's in here."

"Great. The boss just announced she'd be here tomorrow for a surprise visit, to make sure everything is coming along. She'll be pleased to see these."

From her hiding place, Maryam found herself getting, inexplicably, a little excited. For some reason, the woman's sentence evoked in her a faint feeling of anticipation.

She decided to spend the night waiting in the forest outside the encampment. Maryam rested, but did not truly sleep. Her sense locked on to her surroundings, ready to snap her into readiness if there were any anomalies.

But there were no disturbances, that night, and no anomalies. Maryam's rest was peaceful.

And around mid-day, the hamlet welcomed a woman with long black hair and piercing eyes.

Maryam's heart sped up ever-so-slightly. It was as she had suspected. She'd recognize that person anywhere.

Autumn was exchanging greetings with the blonde woman from the previous day. The woman gestured to her, inviting her inside one of the huts to discuss things further.

Autumn didn't move. Instead, she turned to the twenty or so other people who had come out to welcome her, all wearing those same metal bracelets. Among the group was the man Maryam followed to the hamlet.

"I commend you all for your efforts. But it does seem that you've brought us home a visitor."

"A visitor? How is that possible? We've all been checking the sensors regularly, and they showed no sign of this."

"I figured they might not. It's not your fault."

Autumn looked towards the forest.

"Maryam, it's been a while," she said, "Come out. We can talk over tea."

Maryam stepped out of her hiding place with her hands in the air. She wore a not-entirely convincing expression of extreme shock.

"Oh no, I've been caught! Whatever shall I do? Don't tell me… A-Are you going to punish me? I'm okay with being tied up. Y-You can even strip me down to make sure I'm not hiding anything. I won't resist, so please don't do anything bad to me!"

Maryam got more and more into her act with each sentence. By the end of it, she had even managed to conjure up a few tears.

Autumn didn't roll her eyes, but somehow managed to express the sentiment anyway.

She turned to the residents of the hamlet.

"Don't worry. She's not our enemy."

Then she turned back to Maryam.

"I have some matters to tend to right now. Make yourself comfortable. I'll see you later."

Maryam was shown to a hut with an inexpensive but comfortable interior. There were several couches, and a few ordinary paper books had been left on the table in the middle.

Maryam opened one to a random page. It described how to draw copper wires that could be used to conduct a special sort of easily controllable energy called 'electricity'.

Hoping she might find an explanation of how Jacob's calculator was made, she continued to flip through the book. It did not explain how to make calculators, but it did explain how naturally occurring energies could be used to generate electricity through the movement of a 'magnet'.

Several hours passed, and Maryam went through several of the books. She was in the process of reading about how 'magnets' could be produced, when Autumn walked in.

"So," said Autumn, "What brought you here?"

Maryam smiled.

"Would you believe me if I said I came to see you?"

"No, I wouldn't."

"Ah, but I *was* hoping I might find you here. I wanted to take some time away from the sect and I saw an interesting mission description. Thought it wouldn't hurt to check it out."

"And what have you found?"

"Oh, nothing at all! It's su~per mysterious. I staked out several beasts and watched them for weeks, but nothing happened.

"Then I left to go investigate a different part of the forest, and nothing happened there either. The beasts keep disappearing, even from areas I previously investigated, but it's never from the area I'm watching!

"Such terrible luck… It's almost like whatever is doing it knows I'm there and is avoiding me! But that doesn't make sense; unless they're a really high-level cultivator, I'd definitely sense them if they could sense me…

"I only happened to find this ordinary mortal village by accident when I was wandering around randomly… I'm sure it's not worth reporting to the sect!"

Autumn stared at Maryam with unreadable eyes.

Maryam put the back of her hand on her forehead and dramatically threw her head back.

"I can't believe I'm failing the mission like this! Oh, the pain! So much of my life passed here, wasted, for nothing! It's simply too hard, too mysterious!

"Oh, beautiful Autumn, I beseech you, help me, tell me what path I should walk in life. For I have seen that I am worthless alone. Let me throw myself into your—"

"It might help if you started by reclaiming your dignity," Autumn cut in dryly.

Maryam cleared her throat.

"Well, that aside, what made you decide to come visit this place now?" She grinned and glanced down at the necklace Autumn gave her. "Were you missing me? Could it be that you knew I was here and came to see me?"

"I came because I had reason to believe there was an unknown cultivator near my camp. It would've been irresponsible for me to not investigate."

A faint tinge of pink then appeared in Autumn's cheeks, and she added quietly, "But… I did want to see you… After all, you are my friend…"

Now Maryam, too, was slightly red. She averted her eyes and coughed again.

"Well, anyway," said Autumn quickly, "We're going to be here for a few more weeks. If you want a place to rest, you can stay with us."

Maryam was more than happy to take her up on her offer. The days she lived there, in that hamlet, were beautiful, but they seemed to pass by in seconds.

She stayed in Autumn's personal hut. While Autumn was busy for much of the day, she'd always return in the evenings. The hut was full of books, and Maryam spent the days reading them.

When Autumn came home, they would share the dinner that Maryam prepared.

The collection of books in the hut was far from complete. Reading through it left Maryam with a lot of questions. Autumn had a near-perfect memory, and she would spend hours in the evenings explaining to Maryam the nuances and details of mortal science and engineering.

Maryam's interest in the science itself was mostly passing curiosity. It was Autumn's passion for the subject that Maryam would never tire of hearing.

They talked about many other things, too, those nights. They had both ordinary, amusing conversations, and discussions that few other than they would care about or understand.

To avoid being tracked, Maryam had been actively using her energy to hide to her soul-brand. Autumn helped her transfer the brand to a decoy that they left far away from the hamlet. The decoy was crafted from a material the likes of which Maryam had never seen.

For the first time since her escape from the time sphere, Maryam truly relaxed. Autumn, too, felt more like a person than she ever had before.

But somewhere inside, both of them knew that such peace could not be theirs for long, no matter how much they wanted it. Neither of their hearts would allow it. Other things were more important.

And indeed, those few short weeks ended as suddenly as they began. One day, Autumn's preparations were completed.

The hamlet had been designed to be easy to disassemble. Within that very same day, almost all traces of its presence were carefully erased by its inhabitants.

Furniture, wall-panels and other items were packed into space-compression bags. A few tents were set up for the group to sleep in for their final night in the clearing.

That evening, Autumn stood in front of everyone.

"Everything has been going well. This is good news. After all of our work, victory will soon be close at hand."

As Autumn spoke, her face was grim. Aside from Maryam, this grimness was echoed in the expressions of all those listening.

"We can never regain all that we lost—all that they took from us. But they will pay their debt in blood.

"We will succeed. Rest assured; I will make it so. Our efforts will not be in vain. Nobody else will suffer at their hands. We will put an end to this and find freedom.

"Get yourselves ready. Tomorrow, we set out."

Autumn returned to her tent to find Maryam waiting inside.

"You're going to do something dangerous," Maryam said. It wasn't a question.

"I don't have a choice."

"I don't want you to die."

"I don't plan to. Regardless, that isn't your decision to make."

"Then let me help! Ask me to do anything within my power. I don't care about the risk. Even if you see me as nothing more than a friend, it doesn't matter. As long as you always come back to me at the end of the day, it's enough for me—"

Maryam's words flooded out of her before she even knew what she was saying. But Autumn's voice was unusually cold.

"If you want to help me, get stronger."

"I'm far stronger than my cultivation would suggest, you know."

"Yes. You are. But I doubt that even you could defeat an Essence Fusion practitioner while in the Core Creation stage."

"Give me a year or two. I will do it."

"That would be impressive."

"Then wait for a bit. Don't risk yourself needlessly. It's not that much time."

Autumn's face froze.

"You immortals may have years beyond counting to live and waste, but I do not."

Then, she turned on her heel and walked away.

"Wait!" Maryam reflexively grabbed at Autumn's wrist. Her hand closed around Autumn's metal bracelet, accidentally twisting it slightly.

Autumn's face instantly contorted.

Autumn regained control over her expression almost immediately, but Maryam had seen the agony that passed through her eyes, seen her jaw stiffen with the silent clenching of her teeth.

Autumn's expression was now rigidly composed. She probably was still in considerable pain, but she was no longer caught off-guard by it.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't do that," she said calmly.

"Ah… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. Really."

And Maryam realized that while she had paid close attention to Autumn's energy, she had never really properly investigated her flesh.

Much more gently, she took Autumn's hand and carefully sent her energy into the area surrounding the bracelet. What she found did nothing to alleviate her worries. It made Maryam shocked and angry.

"What is this? Who did this to you?"

"I did it to myself."

Now Maryam's brows were creased with concern.

"Why would you do that?"

One of Autumn's eyebrows lifted slightly in response.

"Haven't I always been the same?"

The inside of the bracelet was lined with inwards-facing spikes. They were not the sort of short spikes used for lining collars to inflict pain while training animals.

Some of the spikes were so long they went deep into the bone of Autumn's arm. Many more of them inserted directly into her nerves. All of them had been driven in with surgical precision.